Is there any biomarker for Grit?

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20838
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 9:Education and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Natsume Kiyohisa 九州工業大学, 大学院生命体工学研究科, 教授 (30231492)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: やり抜く力Grit / 勤勉性学習 / カイニン酸少量投与モデル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We attempted to create a diligent rat model (DRM) to determine a Grit behavioral index for rats. First, we examined the behavior of rats given three small doses of kainic acid (KA). The total distance traveled increased in the open field task. Anxious feelings were also decreased, suggesting that the DRM is a model of industriousness. In addition, rats treated with two doses of kainic acid (KA) were subjected to a novel object recognition task. The results showed that the rats stayed longer at the novel object before the administration. After the administration, the rats in the control group approached the familiar object, but the rats in the KA group maintained the tendency to stay at the novel object. This indicates that the control group showed a simple presentation effect by the familiar object, but the KA group did not. Furthermore, hippocampal dopamine levels in the KA group were higher than in the control group. These results suggest that a small dose of KA can create DRM.

Free Research Field

脳情報工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、通常では外部刺激による単純呈示効果を起こすラットが、カイニン酸少量投与すると内発的動機づけが高くなり、単純呈示効果を抑制し勤勉性が上がる事を明らかにした。本研究ではこれまで得られてこなかった勤勉性ラットモデルが得られた可能性がありその学術的意義は大きい。またモデル内海馬ドパミン濃度は高かった。ドパミンは報酬系に関連する脳内物質なので脳内ドパミン濃度が勤勉性の一つのバイオマーカとなる可能性がある。ただ「やり抜く力」（Grit）は勤勉性が持続する事である。今回は一つの学習課題のみで勤勉性を調べたが、今後は他の学習課題でも勤勉に学習するのか調べる予定である。